I just want to let you guys know a little about what’s going on here in some general fashion.
First off, I’m feeling good physically; better than I can remember for a long long time.
I have been falling behind on the blog a bit and correspondence as well. This is temporary and a result of me throwing a bunch of irons in the fire simultaneously. I don’t like being vague about this stuff but, I got to. More on all that down the line. I’ll just say it’s in glorious disorganization.
What I really want to point out is where I’m headed musically. I got a big stack of songs waiting to be recorded and am writing more. I have a desire to document where I am at with this stuff in real time.
Without going in to detail about deals I’m in to biz wise-here’s the plan. I am going to record these songs as singles and release for free download here and other places on the web. See, I’m not worried about the $0.99. I’d rather you take the time to stick this stuff on your iPods. Along with that, if anybody would prefer a wav. we’ll figure something out.
Here’s the thing-it still costs me out of pocket to record these things. I’m not going to tell you how much because it involves other people’s business. But, to record the songs the way I feel is right, I got to hire some good players to get it done.
So, this little PayPal donation button over there is really the recording fund. It doesn’t take a big amount coming in through that portal to allow me to book a session and, right now this morning, there’s enough to book the first session, which will happen later this week hopefully depending on the players schedules.
The real beauty is, we can record in the morning, mix in the afternoon, and release for download that night. All of this in a real deal studio and quality cats involved. It’s been my dream to do this for a while…
So, thanks to you who have donated, you are truly allowing my music to move forward. And, you are facilitating my higher purpose which is; allowing anybody to access this new and continuing musical experiment and spread the word so to speak.
Those of you that have been checking in for a while are probably aware that I have been living without T.V. for several years now. I’m not trying to make any kind of a social statement or anything. I don’t have a beef with T.V., I just don’t have one that’s all.
Anyway, lately I’ve been watching stuff at Hulu and I really like it. They have the complete Alfred Hitchcock Presents. A couple of nights ago, I started watching them in order. I love having something like that “on demand”. It gives me some hope even though I am the anti-demographic.
Hulu has ads sprinkled throughout the programming but, not as much as regular network programming. They have 15 second and 30 second spots.
One spot that is in heavy rotation over there is a Christina Aguilera ad for Target. Now, I don’t know if it’s the same one they are showing on regular T.V. or not. There are probably several versions. The one I keep seeing is a 15 second job that starts out with Christina introducing herself from the set of her new Target commercial. It’s like a “behind the scenes” kind of thing. “Hello, this is Christina Aguilera on the set of my new Target commercial”; something like that.
I’ve seen this a number of times and a couple of things stand out. One is that it’s a commercial about a commercial. The other is a part where she says something about the wonderful fans whose support allow her to “do what I love” or something along those lines.
Both of those illustrate the fact that we are a long way from the primary focus and getting further away. A commercial about a comercial implies that the ad campaign, the corporate partnership, the branding, all of that, is the event. The record isn’t the big thing.
I’m glad Christina is doing what she loves but, what is that? If you asked Sarah Vaughan, “What do you do?” Simple answer; “I’m a singer”. If Aguilera was just a singer, Target wouldn’t have anything to do with her. She is a multi-media symbol, a brand. Target is in for what she symbolizes not her singing or even how many records she’s sold.
The music business has never been above promoting/selling a pretty face. That’s nothing new. But, the primary focus was always selling music. All the other stuff, the merch., the deals; that was all peripheral. The deal didn’t happen without the music happening first.
Nowadays, the peripherals are the revenue streams. That’s what the 360 deal is all about, the merch. the ticket sales, the licensing, the branding opportunities. All of the peripherals are more products of the spectacle, image and recognition than they are of the music. The music is harder to sell than all of that stuff. The peripherals can be contrived, conjured up.
So, the question is; Are the peripherals, the new and coming revenue streams, sustainable?
I think yes they are sustainable. But, is the music necessary to sustain them? Put another way, why does Target need the next Christina Aguilera? Can they accomplish the same thing by partnering with any spectacle/image with recognition? For that matter, why do they need an industry to supply the next big thing that isn’t even in the business of the primary focus?
The banner ad above my G-Mail proclaimed:
This Will Be Your Next Guitar!!
enhhh….probably not.
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